- Croatia extend Scotland's losing streak
- South Africa, New Zealand boost T20 World Cup semi-final hopes
- 'Very challenging': Israel faces Hezbollah in tricky terrain
- Farrell begins to feel at home as Racing 92 beat Toulon
- South Africa boost T20 World Cup semi-final hopes with Bangladesh win
- Samson ton powers India to T20 series sweep after record total
- Djokovic to face Sinner in Shanghai final with 100th title in sight
- UN peacekeepers to remain in Lebanon: spokesman
- Pro-Conquest film fuels debate in Mexico over colonial legacy
- Samson ton powers India to record 297-6 in Bangladesh T20
- New Zealand enjoy perfect start to America's Cup defence over Britain
- Pogacar emulates icon Coppi with fourth straight Il Lombardia triumph
- UN warns against 'catastrophic' regional conflict
- New Zealand crush Ineos Britannia in America's Cup opener
- Djokovic to face Sinner in blockbuster Shanghai Masters final
- With medical report Harris seeks to play health card against Trump
- Sri Lanka seeks to match success in W.Indies T20s
- Sinner reaches Shanghai final, will end year number one
- China-EU EV tariff talks in Brussels end with 'major differences': Beijing
- Sabalenka downs Gauff in three sets to reach Wuhan final
- Israel warns south Lebanon residents to 'not return'
- Sinner tames Machac to reach Shanghai Masters final
- Buried Nazi past haunts Athens on liberation anniversary
- Harris to release medical report confirming fitness for presidency: campaign
- Nobel prize a timely reminder, Hiroshima locals say
- Hezbollah fires at Israel as wars rage on Yom Kippur
- Analysts warn more detail needed on new China economic measures
- China tees up fresh spending to boost ailing economy
- China says will issue special bonds to boost ailing economy
- China offers $325 bn in fiscal stimulus for ailing economy
- Dodgers drop Padres 2-0 to advance in MLB playoffs
- Alexei Navalny wrote he knew he would die in prison in new memoir
- Last-minute legal ruling allows betting on US election
- Despite hurricanes, Floridians refuse to leave 'paradise'
- Israel observes Yom Kippur amid firestorm over Lebanon strikes
- Trump demonizes migrants in dark, misleading speech
- X says 'alert' to manipulation efforts after pro-Russia bots report
- US, European markets rise before Boeing unveils sweeping job cuts
- Small Quebec company dominates one part of NHL hockey: jerseys
- Comoros shock Tunisia, Salah, Mbeumo strike in AFCON qualifiers
- Boeing to cut 10% of workforce as it sees big Q3 loss
- Germany win in Nations League as 10-man Dutch rescue point
- Undav brace sends Germany to victory against Bosnia
- Israel says fired at 'threat' near UN position in Lebanon
- Want to film in Paris? No sexism allowed
- Ecuador's last mountain iceman dies at 80
- Milton leaves at least 16 dead, millions without power in Florida
- Senegal set to announce breakaway development agenda: PM
- UN says 2 peacekeepers wounded in south Lebanon explosions
- Injury-hit Australia thrash 'embarrassing' Pakistan at Women's T20 World Cup
Asian Games card players bridge yawning generation gap
With some players in their 70s and opponents young enough to be their grandchildren, age is just a number for bridge competitors engaged in a battle of wits at the Asian Games.
Masood Mazhar was born in the final months of the Second World War and before the partition of India and Pakistan.
"My father used to play so I've been playing all my life," the 78-year-old, competing for Pakistan, told AFP in Hangzhou.
People have enjoyed variations of bridge for centuries, but the tactical card game is a relatively new discipline at the Asian Games, only becoming a medal event in 2018.
Players sit in fours at square tables, working in pairs to win as many "tricks" as they can in each round.
After all these decades, the game never gets old for Mazhar, who said he began entering competitions in the mid-1980s.
"You learn every day. Every board, you learn, you never get the same thing again ever," he said, referring to the hands of cards players get dealt each game.
"Everything is new every time -- it's an adventure."
Bridge is usually associated with older generations and the majority of players at the Games are over 40.
Taiwan's Chen Kuan-hsuan wants to change all that.
The 23-year-old played with her university's bridge club and at youth tournaments before graduating into the World Team Championships and now the Asian Games.
"I seek self-fulfilment through bridge competitions," she said.
She said in bridge players must "maintain good relations with your teammates and partner... and use logic and inference to complete each move and each calculation" -- a challenge she loves.
"I hope that by competing I can draw the attention of more young people, not just the ones who already play bridge," she said.
Mazhar believes the problem is that young people simply don't have time to get into bridge these days.
"If you really want to play good bridge, you have to give a lot of time, and that means you have to practise at least three to four hours a day," he said.
"And when they're in school, all their parents want is good grades, and going to university to get better grades, and so they're not encouraged and it may become very difficult," he said.
He admits that younger opponents have "more energy, more stamina", but that won't stop him from playing as long as he can.
"It's an addiction," he said.
"You want more and more all the time."
O.M.Souza--AMWN